Subject: MIRNEWS.365
From: "C.M. van den Berg" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>
Cc: <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 20:49:54 +0200

MIRNEWS.365                              28 JUNE 1997

Radiotraffic after collision Progress-M34 with MIR.

On 25.06.1997 during the first pass of the daily sequence (orb. 64831,
1049-1054UTC) it was obvious that something went terribly wrong. If the
redocking would have been a success this should have been obvious during
this traffic.  No word about the Pr-M34.  The only subjects about which the
crew spoke with TsUP were the systems on board MIR.  In the first place
they had  problems with the SUD (attitude control) and something had
happened with a module. TsUP transmitted a long series of 4-digitgroups and
the crew got orders to record  and to collate them ('kvitantsiya').   In
the next pass (orb. 64832, 1223-1232UTC) reports about serious problems 
indicating that the complex  had suffered from a heavy blow.  An emergency
signal warned  that the power supply  was too low (tension too low), that
storage accumulators  could not be charged and that the attitude of the
complex had been changed and flew on its side.  One or more of the 5 still
available solararrays could not be adjusted for a good angle towards the
sun.. Tsibliyev reported that they were unable to change this and that the
complex had a movement  along the X-axis.  The crew got orders to activate
the direct TV-link (commands Anna-72 and Anna-86) and to send images. Mike
Foale made this images with a camera. (These images could be seen all over
the world during the rest of the day). Very alarming was that what the crew
reported during the 3d pass (orb. 64833, 1359-1409UTC).  Those solarpanels
which were still available could not be adjusted  via computercommands, but
this had to be done manually by the cosmonauts. The gyrodynes did not work
any more , the electrical tension was too low and the Ts.V.M.-1 (the main
computer) ceased to function.  The SUD failed  and this was also the case
with such a system in Module-D. After reporting all these calamaties
Tsibliyev stated that the situation was very bad. A number of ventilators
did not work and the crew was grateful about the fact that  the ventilators
in Module-D functioned normally.  The fact that the gyrodynes stopped and
did  not consume power anymore  decreased the burden on the powersupply. 
After a long discussion about the powerproblems the crew got permission to
adjust the solarpanels of Module-D manually for a better angle towards the
sun.  In the background the voice of the veteran cosmonaut Vladimir
Solovyov, Head of Flightcontrol, could be heard. As much as necessary the
crew could use the Soyuz-TM25 and in case of a failure of the
communications from the Baseblock they could use the transceiver of that
ship.  The traffic during the 4th pass (orb. 68434, 1535-1546UTC) began
with the cheerful voice of Foale asking Tsibliyev how he felt himself.
Tsibliyev said that he was very tired and suffered from strain caused by
the event. Before LOS TsUP gave the windows for communications via the
groundfacilities of Oberpfaffenhofen, Dryden en Wallops in the coming
night. There was also good news: Foale reported that the amount fo CO2 in
the air was so low that the CO2 scrubber Vozdukh was not needed. An
inconvenience was the fact that the alarmlight : 'Depressurization of the
complex'  was burning continuously and that reset was impossible while the
mano-vacuummeters indicated that the pressure remained stable (692 mm).
During a following pass Tsibliyev said that he understood that the launch
of the Progress-M35 had been put back. TsUP confirmed this. 
(to be continued)

Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202